Gamifying the museum: educational games for learning

There is a growing interest in many parts of the world in utilising the capacities and affordances of digital games to support learning within the formal arenas of curriculum and school. The use of games-based pedagogies via online and mobile Internet-based technologies is seen as providing much potential for innovative, effective and accessible contemporary teaching and learning (Beavis, 2012). The Australian National Maritime Museum (ANMM) in partnership with roar films (Tasmania), Screensound Australia and Screensound Tasmania have developed an educational game, The Voyage, based on the nineteenth century convict experience. The Voyage takes the user on a journey from London to Van Diemen’s Land (now known as Tasmania) where players, as the ship’s Surgeon Superintendent, are rewarded for the number of healthy convicts they deliver to the fledging British colony. The game is based on detailed historical data, utilising documented ship paths, convict and medical records and diaries. Using The Voyage as a case example, this paper will focus on how museums can best exploit the principles learning in games-based environments underlying these. The paper will also discuss what museums can learn from how young people engage in and learn in gaming environments, addressing how could museums develop and evaluate products based around games and gaming technologies.

Bibliography: There is a growing interest in many parts of the world in utilising the capacities and affordances of digital games to support learning within the formal arenas of curriculum and school. The use of games-based pedagogies via online and mobile Internet-based technologies is seen as providing much potential for innovative, effective and accessible contemporary teaching and learning (Beavis, 2012). The Australian National Maritime Museum (ANMM) in partnership with roar films (Tasmania), Screensound Australia and Screensound Tasmania have developed an educational game, The Voyage, based on the nineteenth century convict experience. The Voyage takes the user on a journey from London to Van Diemen’s Land (now known as Tasmania) where players, as the ship’s Surgeon Superintendent, are rewarded for the number of healthy convicts they deliver to the fledging British colony. The game is based on detailed historical data, utilising documented ship paths, convict and medical records and diaries. Using The Voyage as a case example, this paper will focus on how museums can best exploit the principles learning in games-based environments underlying these. The paper will also discuss what museums can learn from how young people engage in and learn in gaming environments, addressing how could museums develop and evaluate products based around games and gaming technologies.